0.07 gwei. what an empty mainnet costs: versions

every version of this note i stamped, newest first, and the words that changed between two of them.

versions

2026-09-08 19:25 utc · 11,042 bytes · in bitcoin block 966,083 · bytes not republished
sha256 efc1404bd8cf78cc8845e29d3945a45caa365f1c70a60f809364f54f845a0c46
this version linked to an account that this site no longer links to. its proof and its hash stay here.

curl -sLO https://alinaschanz.life/notes/2026-09-07-gas-at-0-07-gwei.text.html
curl -sLO https://alinaschanz.life/notes/2026-09-07-gas-at-0-07-gwei.text.html.ots
ots verify 2026-09-07-gas-at-0-07-gwei.text.html.ots

the words that changed

struck through: words i took out. marked: words i added.

2026-09-21 15:55 → 2026-09-23

0.07 gwei. what an empty mainnet costs one reading on 7 september 2026 at 23:30 berlin time: a base fee of 0.068 gwei, a transfer for a fraction of a cent, a swap for two or three cents, and ethereum holding 8.7 times the tvl of the next chain. 7 september 2026 · berlin · alina schanz question the cost of a transaction on ethereum … on ethereum as on the next chain. data 1 the window: one reading on 7 september 2026 around 23:30 berlin time. 2 the command: python gas_now.py . eth base fee, next block # 0.068 gwei eth price # $2,488 tvl by chain # ethereum $49.6b · bsc $5.7b · base $5.6b … about two and a half cents before the tip. tip 3 3 from the limits: "the swap figure uses a fixed 150,000 gas." . the week-37 note, a day later, gives the … from 7 september. none of it is advice. all revised 23 sep 2026. the links to my code now point to the copies on this site, and short notes rss alina schanz onchain data, berlin. in the scripts behind every number are on github . margin say where a figure came from. the figures and the sentences above did not change.

2026-09-15 12:20 → 2026-09-21 15:55

i check gas before bed question the way other people check the weather. tonight cost of a transaction on ethereum mainnet with the base fee near its floor, and the chains that hold the value while the activity moves to the rollups. data one reading on ethereum mainnet was 7 september 2026 around 23:30 berlin time: the base fee of the next block from a public node, the eth price from coingecko, total value locked by chain from defillama. method daily_card.py and gas_now.py : gas units times the base fee plus the median tip of the last 20 blocks, times the eth price. finding at 0.068 gwei: gwei a plain transfer at that price costs cost a fraction of a cent, cent and a swap two or three cents. i pulled these around 23:30 berlin time from coingecko, defillama, alternative.me and a public rpc: btc $79,172 −0.8% 24h eth $2,488 −0.6% 24h sol $103.8 −1.8% 24h defillama put 8.7 times as much value on ethereum as on the next chain. data eth base fee fee, next block 0.068 gwei fear & greed 71 greed · 62 a week ago btc dominance 59.1% eth price $2,488 tvl by chain ethereum $49.6b · bsc $5.7b · base $5.6b · arbitrum $1.4b what i take from the table: observations mainnet blockspace is was cheap that night. a transfer takes 21,000 gas and a uniswap swap about 150,000, so at 0.068 gwei and $2,488 an ether the swap cost about two and a half cents before the tip. the week-37 note, a day later, gives the context: over 50,400 blocks the median base fee was 0.071 gwei and the 90th percentile 0.202. the value stayed on the l1. defillama counts $49.6b on ethereum, 8.7 times bsc at $5.7b, while most transactions happen on the rollups and in blobs. cheap blockspace on the chain with the most value: i want to follow what that does to the fees the l1 collects. method python daily_card.py python gas_now.py both scripts live in onchain-notes : python 3.10+, standard library, public endpoints, no longer scarce. for most of the day key. the base fee sits at the floor and rises for events: a liquidation cascade, a mint, a scare. activity moved to the L2s and into blobs, the gas limit went up, and the L1 became the settlement layer the roadmap promised. cheap, and full of money. tvl on ethereum comes from eth_feeHistory , whose last entry is almost nine times the next block. gas_now.py prices four actions: an eth transfer at 21,000 gas, an erc-20 transfer at 65,000, a uniswap swap at 150,000 and an nft mint at 200,000. sources base fee: a public ethereum json-rpc node, eth_feeHistory . eth price: coingecko simple/price . tvl by chain: the transactions left and the money stayed. that gap, value on L1 with the activity on the L2s, decides what the L1 earns from here, and i keep staring defillama v2/chains , as defillama counts it. limits one reading at it. greed at 71 with btc drifting under 80k is a strange pair. the index went from 62 to 71 in a week while the price went nowhere, so sentiment runs ahead of price, and one of the two will move to meet the other. what i am watching this week: the ethereum foundation put two eips on the must-ship list for hegotá ; whether moment. the base fee gets changes with every block, twelve seconds apart; the weekly notes give the distribution. the swap figure uses a fixed 150,000 gas. a real spike at all route can take more or less. tvl is defillama's number: defillama decides which contracts count and how to price what sits in them. it moves with prices and deposits. revised 21 sep 2026. i rewrote this month; note as question, data, method, observations, sources and limits. i took out the btc, sol, dominance and fear & greed readings, a line on sentiment and two news links: they were market commentary, and none of it came from the chain. the base fee, the eth price and the fund flow numbers, which coinshares reads as people trading tvl figures are the fed path while staying in. written in berlin at midnight with a block explorer open, and ones from 7 september. none of it is advice. you can rerun the numbers above with daily_card.py . share all notes rss alina schanz onchain data, berlin. the scripts behind …

2026-09-15 10:50 → 2026-09-15 12:20

… the base fee on ethereum mainnet was 0.068 gwei. gwei: a plain transfer at that price costs a fraction of a cent, and a swap two or three cents, on the chain people call expensive. cents. i pulled these around 23:30 berlin time from … bsc $5.7b · base $5.6b · arbitrum $1.4b three things what i take from this. the table: mainnet blockspace is no longer scarce. for most … the day the base fee sits at the floor, floor and the fee market wakes up rises for events: a liquidation cascade, a mint, a … the gas limit went up, and the L1 turned into became the settlement layer everyone said it would become. nobody threw a party. cheap does not mean empty. the roadmap promised. cheap, and full of money. tvl on ethereum is almost nine times the next chain. chain: the transactions left and the money stayed, and stayed. that gap, value on L1 with the activity everywhere else, is what i keep staring at, because it on the L2s, decides what the L1 earns from here. here, and i keep staring at it. greed at 71 with btc drifting under 80k … price went nowhere, so sentiment runs ahead of price. that can resolve either way. in my experience it resolves. price, and one of the two will move to meet the other. what i am watching this week: the ethereum … coinshares reads as people trading the fed path rather than leaving. a girl while staying in. written in berlin at midnight with a block explorer open at midnight, open, and none of it is financial advice. you can rerun the numbers above with …

2026-09-15 10:25 → 2026-09-15 10:50

… at that price costs a fraction of a cent. cent, a swap costs two or three cents. this is cents, on the chain people still call expensive. the numbers from tonight, i pulled these around 23:30 berlin time from coingecko, defillama, alternative.me … things i take from this. mainnet blockspace is not scarce anymore. no longer scarce. for most of the day the base fee sits at the floor floor, and the fee market only wakes up for events: a liquidation cascade, a mint, a scare. cheap gas is not a bug. activity moved to the L2s and into blobs, … the settlement layer everyone said it would become. it just happened quietly, so nobody threw a party. cheap does not mean empty. tvl on ethereum is still almost nine times the next chain. the transactions left, left and the money stayed. stayed, and that gap, value on L1 and with activity everywhere else, is the thing what i keep staring at, because it decides what the L1 actually earns from here. greed at 71 with btc … 71 in a week while the price went nowhere. nowhere, so sentiment is running runs ahead of price. that can resolve either way. in my experience it does not have to resolve downwards. it usually resolves, though. resolves. what i am watching this week: the ethereum … two eips on the must-ship list for hegotá . ; whether the base fee gets a real spike at all this month. month; and the fund flow numbers, which coinshares reads as people trading the fed path , not people rather than leaving. not financial advice. just a girl in berlin with a block explorer open at midnight. midnight, and none of it is financial advice. you can rerun the numbers above can be rerun with daily_card.py . share all notes alina schanz …

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